PMO: ‘Deal of the Century’ unacceptable and unfair to Palestine
by BY RADZI RAZAKKUALA LUMPUR, Jan 31 — Malaysia today said the ‘Deal of the Century’ — a proposed peace plan for Israel and Palestine announced by US President Donald Trump on January 28 — is unfair and one-sided.
In a statement today, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) said Palestinians have every right to reject the deal as they were not directly involved in or even consulted over the formulation of the proposal.
“The proposal is heavily one-sided, seeking to reward Israel as the occupier at the expense of occupied Palestine and her people. The proposal is clearly unfair to the Palestinians and will only perpetuate the injustices they have long endured.
“Malaysia stands by its position that the creation of an independent State of Palestine through the two-State solution, based on the pre-1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine, is the only viable solution to the Palestine-Israel conflict,” the PMO said in the statement.
The PMO said Malaysia will continue to support concrete and honest efforts to find a lasting solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict based on international law and relevant United Nations resolutions through negotiations involving the parties.
On Tuesday, Trump announced the plan, among others, stating that Jerusalem will remain Israel’s undivided capital and that the US will recognise Israeli sovereignty over territory that Trump’s plan envisages being part of Israel.
Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad has been very vocal about the Palestinian issue since the 1980s.
Last week, Dr Mahathir received a courtesy call from Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh and his delegation at his office in Perdana Putra.
In October last year, Malaysia announced plans to open an embassy accredited to Palestine in the Jordanian capital Amman to better facilitate aid to Palestinians.
This followed Tel Aviv’s refusal to grant Malaysian officials access to the West Bank city of Ramallah over what the Israeli foreign ministry called Dr Mahathir’s “extremist anti-Israel and anti-Semitic policy.”